Survival in a cohort of patients with lung cancer: the role of age and gender in prognosis.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as well as their disease course, by age group and gender.

METHODS

This was a retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with NSCLC from 2000 to 2012 and followed until July 2015 in a tertiary referral hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Based on the 25th and 75th percentiles of the age distribution, patients were stratified into three age groups: < 55 years; ≥ 55 and < 72 years; and ≥ 72 years. Survival time was evaluated during the follow-up period of the study. Functions of overall and gender-specific survival stratified by age groups (event: all-cause mortality) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Differences among survival curves were assessed via the log-rank test.

RESULTS

We included 790 patients with the following age distribution: < 55 years, 165 patients; ≥ 55 and < 72 years, 423; and ≥ 72 years, 202. In the entire sample, there were 493 men (62.4%). Adenocarcinoma was the most common histological pattern in the < 72-year age groups; 575 patients (73%) presented with advanced disease (stages IIIB-IV). The median 5-year survival was 12 months (95% CI: 4-46 months), with no significant differences among the age groups studied.

CONCLUSIONS

NSCLC remains more common in men, although we found an increase in the proportion of the disease in women in the < 55-year age group. Adenocarcinoma predominated in women. In men, squamous cell carcinoma predominated in the ≥ 72-year age group. Most patients presented with advanced-stage disease at diagnosis. There were no statistical differences in survival between genders or among age groups.